JDU and BJP likely to get 17 seats each, while the LJP may contest from six seats.
The seat-sharing formula within the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has almost taken shape in Bihar, with the Janata Dal United (JDU) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) likely to get 17 seats each, while the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) to contest on the remaining six seats. The new formula has been worked assuming that the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) of Upendra Kushwaha will walk out of the alliance.
With this, the JDU is set to emerge as a big gainer of seats as it may be contesting on 17, despite the fact that it could win only two out of the 40 seats (Nalanda and Purnia) it contested in the last Lok Sabha elections. The BJP, on the other hand, will “sacrifice” five sitting seats for the sake of the ruling alliance in the state. There are 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar.
Sources said that discussions have started on distribution of seats among the three alliance partners. The seats of Patna Sahib and Darbhanga are under the spotlight as the sitting BJP MPs—Shatrughan Sinha and Kirti Azad respectively—are unlikely to be repeated given their rebel voices against the party leadership.
According to sources, the JDU has set its eyes on Patna Sahib, Darbhanga, Munger, Begusarai, Valmiki Nagar, Vaishali, Maharjganj, Sheohar, Nalanda, Arrah, Aurangabad, Purnia, Kishanganj, Supaul, Madhepura, Rohtas, Siwan and Ujiyarpur.
The case of Patna Sahib has become interesting as Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, a Kayastha leader who is a member of Rajya Sabha, has apperently expressed his strong desire to contest the Lok Sabha elections from there. A section of the state leadership is pushing for giving a ticket to Rituraj Sinha, the son of BJP Rajya Sabha member R.K. Sinha, who presently heads the security company SIS.
However, the JDU leadership is under intense pressure from its workers to field Ranbir Nandan, another prominent Kayastha leader and JDU MLC, from the seat. Patna Sahib is a Kayastha-dominated constituency. Shatrughan Sinha, also a Kayastha, is likely to contest on an RJD ticket.
“Ranbir Nandan has been active in the area for a long time and has cultivated his relationship with the local voters for long. As for Ravi Shankar Prasad, he is already a Member of Parliament. We have requested Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to field Nandan from the seat. Besides the JDU voters, he enjoys good support among the BJP cadre as well, as he was in BJP before joining JDU,” said a JDU worker.
The JDU also wants to contest from Darbhanga as Azad is unlikely to get a BJP ticket. Besides, the JDU wants to contest from Munger, Jamui and Banka. The Munger seat is currently held by LJP. There is a plan to send LJP’s Munger MP to Nawada, while Munger may be given to JDU.
The sitting Nawada MP (BJP) may be shifted to Begusarai as the sitting Begusarai MP Bhola Singh has died. Similarly, JDU may also get Jamui as the sitting MP Chirag Paswan is planning to contest from Hajipur. The seat is currently held by LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan, a Union Minister, who is now planning to enter Parliament through the Rajya Sabha. Hajipur has been a strong turf of Ram Vilas Paswan.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had won 22 out of 29 seats it contested. The rest were given to LJP of Ram Vilas Paswan (7) and RLSP (4). The LJP won six, while RLSP won three seats.
However, in the changed scenario, with JDU now part of NDA, the BJP has decided to leave five of its sitting seats to accommodate the JDU, which had contested the last elections alone. It has been agreed to give all the six sitting seats to LJP. Besides, with Kushwaha all set to exit the NDA, the RLSP seats—Karakat, Jehanabad and Sitamarhi—will also be distributed between the JDU and BJP.